NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — An immigration detention center in New Jersey is at the center of tensions between three congressional Democrats and the Trump administration after the arrest of Newark’s mayor set off a scrum outside the complex.
Federal prosecutors charged Newark Mayor Ras Baraka with trespassing after agents arrested him outside the fence of the Delaney Hall detention center on Friday. The interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey says Baraka, a Democrat who is running for governor, ignored warnings to leave while he was there with three members of New Jersey's congressional delegation at the 1,000-bed Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
The arrest escalated into a brief but tense confrontation in the parking lot that included the members of Congress and federal agents, some of whom wore masks. Department of Homeland spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin has accused Baraka of playing “political games” and said over the weekend that an investigation is ongoing and that more actions could be taken.
The three members of Congress — Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez Jr. — have accused federal agents of escalating the situation by arresting the mayor.
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The representatives have said they went to the facility to inspect it as a matter of congressional oversight.
“We were able to get in, speak to detainees, check out the facilities, and make sure everything was OK there,” Rep. Watson Coleman told CNN in an interview Sunday that also included her two New Jersey colleagues. “We were there almost two hours before the confrontation took place, but ICE kept giving us the run-around and kept saying that they needed to talk to someone else.”
Department of Homeland Security officials have said that lawmakers had not asked for a tour of Delaney Hall and that the agency would have facilitated one. Watson Coleman spokesperson Ned Cooper has said the three lawmakers went there unannounced because they planned to inspect it, not take a scheduled tour.
Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social media platform X that Baraka was arrested after the mayor allegedly trespassed at the detention facility. She accused him of ignoring warnings to leave the facility, which he has denied.
Baraka was arrested, booked and released the same day. He said he has a court appearance scheduled for Thursday.
In video reviewed by The Associated Press, a federal official in a jacket with the logo of the Homeland Security Investigations can be heard telling Baraka he could not enter the facility because “you are not a congress member.” He was arrested after returning to the public side of the gate at the facility where protesters were gathered, video shows.
Baraka, who is running to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, has argued against the opening of the center, citing building permit issues. The facility, located along an industrial stretch of Newark Bay, opened on May 1.
Delaney Hall is a two-story building next to a county prison in Newark Bay that operated as a halfway house in previous years. In February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it and the GEO Group reached a $1 billion, 15-year deal for the detention center. The deal is significant for its size and duration, and GEO officials cited it in messages to investors as a big revenue generator
The 1,000-bed capacity is also significant in advancing President Donald Trump's goals of expanding detention capacity in the U.S. beyond the previous 41,000 beds, in New Jersey, Michigan, and other states to 100,000 beds.
Democrats, including Baraka, have opposed the opening of the facility. As mayor, Baraka sued to block the opening of the detention center, saying it hadn't completed all building requirements.
DHS has said that the facility has the proper permits and completed the proper inspections.
Congresswoman Rep. LaMonica McIver demands the release of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after his arrest while protesting outside an ICE detention prison, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Newark, N.J, (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., and other protestors demand the release of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after his arrest at an ICE detention prison, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Newark, N.J, (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., speaks with an officer demanding she be let into the ICE Detention office after the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Friday, May 9, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
